A POLICE inspector’s reluctance to hand over his investigation diary (ID) on the abduction of Pastor Raymond Koh agitated the inquiry panel probing into the case today.

National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Mah Weng Kwai said if police were going to use the excuse that such material was classified every time the panel asked for evidence, the inquiry “might as well pack up and leave”.

Mah said such evidence was to be handed over to the panel according to Section 14 of the Suhakam Act.

He and Inspector Ali Asrar, as well as two other police observers at the hearing today, disagreed on the right to access Ali’s ID. The police observers also asked the media not to report on the ID.

Ali, who was called to the stand today, was the officer who attended to the first witness, Roeshan Gomez, when the latter reported Koh’s abduction on February 13.

Gomez was driving behind Koh’s car when the abduction happened in Petaling Jaya.

When Man asked Ali if he kept a diary of the events of February 13 when Koh was abducted, the inspector said “Yes”.

But when Mah asked him to show panel the diary, Ali said the police would have to get approval from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC). 

Mah then said the panel was entitled to see such evidence under the act governing the commission.

“The commission is entitled to look at the documents to refresh the memory of the witness. If we don’t see the ID, it will render the commission useless,” he said.

Two other police officers attending the inquiry as observers then said the diary was classified as investigations were ongoing and could not be handed over to the panel. They asked for a postponement to the hearing to refer to the AGC.

This prompted Mah to retort sternly that if the panel was denied evidence each time it asked for it on the grounds that investigations were ongoing, “we might as well pack up and leave”.

“We should be allowed to look at the ID because we want to check the dates stated by Ali. It is to corroborate the statements he made.”

The police observers then stood up to object but Mah instructed the inquiry’s officers retrieve the diary from Ali, who then handed it over. – November 2, 2017.